Brushing and flossing are vital to excellent oral health, but braces can be challenging. But brushing with braces isn’t as difficult as you think! You can keep your teeth healthy and strong throughout your orthodontic treatment with the right tools and methods.
Smiles by the Bay wants you to have the smile of your dreams. Wearing braces or clear aligners will straighten your teeth and fix your bite, but you must also keep your teeth and gums clean and healthy.
How do you brush your teeth with braces? Here are some of our best tips on how to clean teeth with braces!
Tip No. 1: Best Toothbrush for Braces
If you want to know how to properly brush teeth with braces, the best way to start is with the right tools, including the right toothbrush. The correct toothbrush can make braces cleaning much easier!
Use a soft-bristle straight brush or a bi-level brush (one that has shorter bristles in the middle and longer bristles at the edges). Used carefully, an electric toothbrush can work just as well or even better because the rotating or vibrating head can better reach brackets and underwire.
Be sure the electric toothbrush is set to a moderate power level, and don’t let the toothbrush’s back hit your braces. It could loosen or dislodge your braces brackets!
Tip No. 2: Use a Proxabrush
A special tool might help if you’re having trouble cleaning the areas near brackets and wires. Use an interdental toothbrush or proxabrush.
This small brush has a small tuft of bristles that stick up all around, like a pipe cleaner. Use it gently and carefully to clean the tiny spaces under wires and around bands and brackets.
You can find proxabrushes at most major retailers.
Tip No. 3: Use Fluoride Toothpaste
Fluoride is a mineral that reinforces the enamel, or surface, of teeth. Fluoride toothpaste enhances tooth strength and helps prevent tooth decay and cavities.
Brush with fluoride toothpaste at least twice daily (preferably after meals) for at least two minutes each time. Remember to brush all the tooth surfaces: the outside, the inside, and the chewing surfaces.
Be especially careful to clean the areas between wires, teeth, brackets, and gums — where food particles can easily become trapped.
Bonus Tip: How to Clean Dental Braces and Teeth
Here’s a suggested brushing technique for cleaning braces properly. Beginning at the outside surfaces, place the tips of the bristles flat against your teeth and use small circular motions to polish them gently.
For areas between braces and gums, tilt the brush toward the gum line (down for the bottom teeth, up for the top) at a 45-degree angle while keeping up the circular motions.
Next, move on to the chewing surfaces of the upper and lower teeth, using a firm back-and-forth motion. Ensure the bristles get to the back of your molars and braces bands and the gums behind them.
Finally, finish up by carefully brushing the inside surfaces of the teeth the same way you did the outside surfaces. You may need to hold the toothbrush straight up and down and use the end of the toothbrush head to get the back of the upper and lower incisors (front teeth).
Tip No. 4: Proper Flossing With Braces
Flossing with braces may seem challenging. You can’t just pull the dental floss down between your teeth now that there are braces wires in the way.
You must floss at least once daily to keep your gums healthy. But how do you get floss under the archwire of your braces? It’s not so hard with the help of a floss threader.
This device is like threading a needle: Pull one end of floss through the threader and then push the threader under the archwire.
The floss threader is thin enough to slide through your teeth, threading the floss between your teeth. Simply grasp the floss on each end and slide it up and down the sides of both teeth and under the gums. Finally, pull it out and use a new section of floss for the next area.
You can also buy floss threaders made of individual pieces of floss with a thin piece of plastic on the end that works like the other floss threader.
Tip No. 5: Use a Water Flosser
It’s vital to use dental floss to clean properly between teeth, but another tool can help floss teeth and clean braces between traditional flossing.
That tool is a water flosser, also called an oral irrigator or a Waterpik, after the name of a popular brand. A water flosser shoots a small stream of pressurized water at your teeth, which can help dislodge bits of food trapped in nooks and crannies — including around braces brackets.
While it’s easy to use, a water flosser isn’t a toothbrush or dental floss substitute. Even at the highest pressure, it lacks the scrubbing power a toothbrush or dental floss can provide. However, when used along with proper brushing and flossing techniques, a water flosser can be very effective.
Braces Care in Annapolis, MD
Braces will straighten your smile, but knowing how to clean your teeth with braces and how to take care of braces will keep them healthy and strong. Fixing cavities or gum disease with braces can delay your treatment time, so keeping your braces clean is important.
Keeping your braces and teeth clean will ensure a beautiful smile once the braces come off. If you want more tips on cleaning braces teeth in Annapolis, MD, or learning how to take care of braces, schedule an appointment with Smiles by the Bay.
